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Video 9:08
Egyptian court order drives Australian mother and daughter into hiding

Louise Milligan
Wed 30 Oct 2013, 8:02 PM AEDT

An Australian mother says she unwittingly signed an Egyptian court order banning her or her daughter from leaving that country and now they're in hiding in Cairo while her family in Melbourne lobby the Government to help overturn the ban and Australian Federal Police search for her husband.

Transcript

LEIGH SALES, PRESENTER: An Australian family is tonight involved in an ugly international row and at the heart of it is a four-year-old girl. The girl and her mother are currently trapped in Cairo. The woman, Amaal Finn, signed an application form in Arabic at the request of her husband, saying he told her it was for Egyptian residency. She later found out it was consent to an Egyptian court order banning her or her daughter from leaving the country. Her family back here is now begging the Foreign Minister, Julie Bishop, to intervene.

In an extraordinary twist, the Egyptian husband has now gone missing and the Australian Family Court is permitting publication of the details of this case in the hope the public can help the Australian Federal Police track him down. Louise Milligan reports.

LOUISE MILLIGAN, REPORTER: Despite appearances, Amaal Finn and her four-year-old, Zareen, are living through a terrible ordeal. The Australian citizens are trapped in Egypt. Every day, they talk to Amaal's father, Graeme Finn, on Skype. The last 10 months, Zareen has been held in Egypt, first by her father's extended family, then, terrifyingly, in a police cell for two nights.

As her grandfather and mother continue to chat, four-year-old Zareen relives the ordeal.

ZAREEN FINN, DAUGHTER (On Skype): I'm stuck with you in the room.

AMAAL FINN: Yeah, I remember. sweetheart.

ZAREEN FINN: And we sleeping. Why?

AMAAL FINN: Yeah. Well we had to sleep in that small little room.

ZAREEN FINN: Why?

AMAAL FINN: Because it was the police station, sweetheart, OK? ...

... She's scared that police or anybody else will take her, will snatch her and take her away from her mum. She remembers - she remembers what her family over there did to her, that they took her, that they took her away from me and they were - she remembers how violent it got. ... And she just - she doesn't understand why would anyone do that to her, you know. Why would anyone take her off her mum?

LOUISE MILLIGAN: Their situation is almost too much for Zareen's Australian grandmother to bear.

RAZMI WAHAB, GRANDMOTHER: Well it is very difficult because I worry because this is going to impact on her life. How is this little girl sleeping? How is she coping? And she's four years old.

LOUISE MILLIGAN: Zareen's mother, Amaal Finn, grew up in Melbourne's inner north. Later on, she began to attend the nearby mosque at Preston. There, the imam set her up in an arranged marriage with one Mazen Baioumy, who'd recently arrived from Egypt.

GRAEME FINN, GRANDFATHER: I thought he was a really nice guy, actually. He can be very charming.

LOUISE MILLIGAN: Soon after their daughter Zareen was born, the relationship went through a rocky patch and Mr Baioumy returned to Egypt. Hoping to reconcile, Amaal brought Zareen to his family home north of Cairo in December last year.

Speaking via Skype to 7.30, Amaal explains how her husband asked her to sign a document which was in Arabic.

What did he tell you those documents were when you signed them?

AMAAL FINN (via Skype): He had told me that they were the paperwork to start the process for citizenship. I didn't understand what they said, but he was my husband and I trusted him. They are travel bans. They are making sure that myself and Zareen can't leave the country without his permission first.

LOUISE MILLIGAN: Mazen Baioumy next told her he wanted to leave then three-year-old Zareen at home with his mother to learn Arabic.

AMAAL FINN (via Skype): I was very, very concerned. I didn't like the idea at all, but he was promising me it was only going to be for two months. That's one of the worst moments that I've had to go through, to leave her there, and I knew she didn't know what was going on. I wasn't even allowed to tell her that I was going.

LOUISE MILLIGAN: When the couple got back to Australia, Amaal says she knew her husband had no intention of ever allowing her to get her daughter back. In August this year, Amaal Finn and her father saw an opportunity while Mr Baioumy was away working to dash to Egypt to rescue Zareen. Graham Finn says the Egyptian relatives were extremely hostile. A huge fight ensued as he and Amaal tried to get Zareen away.

GRAEME FINN: Amaal opened the door, she tried to get into the taxi and the brother-in-law just dashed forward and tried to grab Zareen from her. He said, "Give me Zareen, give me Zareen." And I said, "But she's the mother, you can't."

AMAAL FINN (via Skype): I tried to hold onto her as much as I could, but she was pulled off me and I lost sight of her. My brother-in-law tried to strangle me. The first thing that he did when Zareen was out of my arms was his hands went around my throat and I had no idea where she'd gone and I was terrified. I thought, "That's it, I've lost her."

LOUISE MILLIGAN: Amaal Finn, her daughter, her father and her Egyptian in-laws spent two nights in a police lockup. Zareen was eventually released into her mother's care. This is Zareen's unprompted conversation with her grandfather days afterwards.

ZAREEN FINN (Home video): The people must hate me.

GRANDFATHER: The people's mother hate you.

ZAREEN FINN: They take me from mummy, why?

GRANDFATHER: Because they're bad people, darling.

ZAREEN FINN: I not like it.

GRANDFATHER: No, I didn't like it either. Mummy didn't like it. It was wrong.

LOUISE MILLIGAN: Amaal Finn and her daughter are now hiding in Cairo, fearing for their safety.

GRAEME FINN: It's bizarre how this can happen and how it could be allowed to continue. How it can be that one Egyptian man can stop two Australian citizens from leaving Egypt.

LOUISE MILLIGAN: Here in Australia, Mazen Baioumy has gone missing.

Mazen Baioumy's lawyer says his client has informed him he plans to sign the power of attorney to release Amaal and Zareen, he's just been getting some advice from the Egyptian Government.

The Australian Federal Police are searching for him. Why hasn't he made himself available to them?

KIMANI BODEN, SOLICITOR: Well I'm not sure he's aware that there's a warrant outstanding for his arrest.

LOUISE MILLIGAN: Do you think your client is someone who tells the truth?

KIMANI BODEN: Well, look, I follow his instructions.

LOUISE MILLIGAN: The solicitor doesn't have his client's phone number. He believes Mr Baioumy is in the Egyptian consulate and plans to go there tomorrow, hoping his client has signed the consent forms.

The Egyptian police released the child into the custody of her mother.

KIMANI BODEN: Understandably, understandably.

LOUISE MILLIGAN: So what does that say?

KIMANI BODEN: Well I'm not sure what I can say to that. Obviously they formed a view as to what is the appropriate thing to do and I don't think any Australian would think that a daughter shouldn't be with her mother.

LOUISE MILLIGAN: The Finn family are begging the Foreign Minister, Julie Bishop, to intervene.

RAZMI WAHAB: I'm very angry. I'm frightened and I'm angry. But I don't - well, no-one seem to be listening. We have written, my friends have sent email to Julie Bishop, but we're just getting this standard answer of, "We're going through a process." What process? It's not a process we have to go through. We have to go and get Amaal and Zareen out of Egypt straightaway.

LOUISE MILLIGAN: But Foreign Minister Julie Bishop declined to comment for this story. Her staffer maintained that it was an international custody dispute. She suggested that we contact the Attorney-General. After a detailed investigation, the Attorney, George Brandis' office, confirmed that it was not an international custody dispute and it was in fact a matter for the Foreign Minister. Shadow Foreign Minister Tanya Plibersek has requested an urgent briefing from the department.

For now, the family is left to Skype.

GRAEME FINN (On Skype): Bye-bye darling. OK.

AMAAL FINN: Got a big kiss for grandpa?

ZAREEN FINN: (Kisses towards camera)

GRAEME FINN: That was a little kiss, OK. OK. OK, Amaal. Love you.

LEIGH SALES: And anyone with information about the whereabouts of Mazen Baioumy should contact the Federal Police on Crime Stoppers number 1800 333 000.